Tengri News today reports on a study in which a group of experts have tried to come up with an illustration of the modern day Kazakh.

The group make some interesting assertions, focussing on young people in their depictions. Here’s the article reposted in full:

A ‘modern day Kazakh’? Photo (c) Tengri News

Psychologists, economists and financial experts have attempted to create a collective image of a modern Kazakhstan citizen, Tengrinews.kz reports.
According to Director of the Association of Practicing Psychologists Aleksey Kulikov, contemporary Kazakhstan citizen is able to set goals and achieve them consistently. His/her goals are not global, like saving the world or attaining the global peace; they are very local and concrete.

However, according to Kulikov, an average Kazakhstan citizen is rather lazy. This is especially true for young people. “Parents give them a lot and this kills a person’s motivation to do everything himself. This causes laziness and some kind of passivity. When such person grows up and the time comes to work, it is very difficult for him. We hold trainings in major company and see a lot of people with good positions and wages, but without any drive. They are not the leaders they should be.”

According to the psychologist, the fact that Kazakhstan is a big country and its population is small compared to its territory makes modern Kazakhstan citizens are more sensitive about competition than the citizens of other countries. “Yes, there are forty candidates for one position in Europe, their population is much larger. But we have less people and, thus, fewer companies and fewer positions. One has to fight for his job, prove himself and be a careerist,” he said suggesting that modern Kazakhstan citizen would have been more successful if he was not lazy.

Making the image of modern Kazakhstan citizen, the experts focused on young people stressing that a modern Kazakhstan citizen is young. Director of the Center for Analysis of Public Issues Meruert Makhmutova said: “Who is the modern Kazakhstan citizen? It is difficult to characterize categorically, as there are two poles. Speaking about youth, those who pull the carts at the markets and have no clear plans for the future are on one pole. Those getting good education in the best Western universities are on the other pole. But I can confidently say that a modern Kazakhstan citizen does not know what will happen to him in five years. Before (during soviet time) it was all predictable: school, university, work. There is no predictability these days,” the speaker said.

“A modern Kazakhstan citizen has a low level of economic literacy,” Serik Akhanov, Doctor of Economics said. According to him, this is confirmed by how Kazakhstan citizen is not rational is spending his salary, is not practical in household use. He does not save money for education of his children. “The most terrible is that he does not save money for a “rainy” day either. Modern Kazakhstan citizen is a Homo Faber, Man the Creator. But I dream that he becomes a Homo Sapiens, a Thinking Man,” the expert said.

According to him, Kazakhstan citizens are quite talented people who live in the nomad culture. “We are still wandering, but in a metaphorical sense: we are in a constant change of impressions, constant change of lifestyle. We, Kazakhstan citizens, are able to build the “people’s” capitalism. The most important thing is that everyone should work,” he said.

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Apparently this characteristic is not confined to Kazakhs. Here’s what the Kyrgyz President has to say about young people in his country…

Kyrgyzstan’s young people do not want to work – Almazbek Atambayev
27/07-2012 10:23, Bishkek – 24.kg news agency , by Anastasia BENGARD
“Kyrgyzstan’s young people do not want to work,” President Almazbek Atambayev stated during today’s meeting in the UN House.

According to him, there are enterprises where “the newest machines are idle, and there is nobody to work”. “Hundreds of thousands of people received their diplomas. But it would be better they graduate from vocational schools. Large distortions in the minds of young people, in the whole nation have happened over the years. Most of them got accustomed to dependency. They do not think that it is necessary to find earnings before making a family. They can take a piece of land in the village. Once I worked as a street cleaner, and a loader,” the head of state said.